Back in the cabin I was a poor defenseless girl—an outlaw with a jail term ahead of me soon's I got caught; alone in the world, helpless, with an indictment hanging over my head. And Zang Whistler out of the kindness of his heart offers to protect me—offers to take me where the law can't reach. Now—Zang Whistler's woman!"
"Hobble that line of talk!" Blazing anger now shook the man's speech. "You 've got no call to make out somethin' I never said, nor don't intend to say. I never—I did n't—oh, hell's fire an' hoop snakes! How can I say what I want to say? Over to the Spout there 's one woman already—she 's Lonny Taylor's lawful wife. I was aimin' you should live with her until—until somehow I could rope Uncle Alf to ride over an' make marriage medicine between us. Preachers don't squat under every sagebush in this country, an' you know it."
Zang dropped his hand from the girl's bridle. There was something definitive in the gesture; the freed bridle freed also the girl Zang had thought to be wholly his. Hers was the next move.
Hilma's eyes looked deep down into the
